(4)
Great question and I hope it will become a great list. Yay Java! :) - Ricket

Thanks. I was always wondering how competent Java can be when it comes to game development. - Terence Ponce

(4)
I highly recommend it. Java as a language has a huge userbase and many great tools (Eclipse and NetBeans IDEs, JUnit for unit testing, the Javadoc standard for documentation, etc.) which gives you a great foundation. There are a few good libraries out there for game development too (LWJGL, JOGL, jMonkeyEngine, Java2D, Java3D, JGame, ...). But most of all, applets. And of course I love the challenge of writing games in a language which most people see as inferior (especially to C++ and such). - Ricket

+1 for "I love the challenge of writing games in a language which most people see as inferior (especially to C++ and such)" :) - Mr_Qqn

(2)
Pretty much anything written for Android? - roe

I was thinking of learning C#/XNA to introduce myself to game development. Because of Ricket's post, I think I'm gonna stick with Java since I'm already comfortable with it. - Terence Ponce

Minecraft is a sandbox game which allows players to build constructions out of textured cubes in a 3D world. It is currently in development by Markus Persson, aka "Notch". The gameplay is inspired by Dwarf Fortress, RollerCoaster Tycoon, Dungeon Keeper, and especially Infiniminer.
1
[3] The game is split into two variants, Alpha and Classic; Classic is both single- and multiplayer and includes only the building aspects of the game with unlimited blocks, and Alpha also has a single- and- multiplayer mode and includes monsters and a much greater variety of crafting available, as well as requiring players to mine their own blocks. Alpha is currently the latest release of Minecraft, and will move into beta sometime in September 2010. Minecraft was developed for about a week before its public release on May 17, 2009 on the TIGSource forums, where it gained a considerable level of popularity. It has been continually updated since then.

RuneScape is a fantasy massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) released in January 2001 by Andrew and Paul Gower, and developed by Jagex Ltd. It is a graphical browser game implemented on the client-side in Java, and incorporates 3D rendering. The game has approximately 10 million active accounts, over 130 million registered accounts, and is recognised by the Guinness World Records as the world's most popular free MMORPG.

Yohoho! Puzzle Pirates is a massively
multiplayer online role-playing game
developed by Three Rings Design. The
player takes the role of a pirate,
adventuring on the high seas and
pillaging money ("pieces of eight")
from roaming enemy ships (human or
computer-controlled). The mechanics of
Puzzle Pirates are driven by puzzles.
For example, to effectively sail a
ship, players must play puzzle games
representing work at the sails for
speed, pumping bilge water to remove
it from the ship, and carpentry to fix
any damage the ship may take

Unrelated to the question but, I like Puzzle Pirates because the PvP part is rather hardcore with high stakes - and effective crews require a lot of cooperation, not to mention that an effective ship needs multiple players unlike many recent pirate MMOs ^^ - Oskar Duveborn

Also note that a lot of the code used to make Puzzle Pirates is open sourced at github.com/threerings - samskivert

3

[+7]
[2010-09-14 03:10:04]
Ricket

All of the games at
FunOrb
[1] (by Jagex, the makers of RuneScape) are written in Java and presented very similar to other Flash game portal sites.

[1] http://www.funorb.com/

4

[+6]
[2010-09-14 12:12:24]
community_owned

Tribal Trouble
[1] is a real-time strategy video game for Microsoft Windows, Linux and Mac OS X. The game pits natives of tropical islands against invading Vikings. The game was developed by independent studio Oddlabs, and has won several awards, including four top 5 positions in indie game review site GameTunnel's 2005 awards in the categories of best multiplayer game, best graphics, best strategy game and best game overall. The game also spawned a sequel, Tribal Trouble 2. (source Wikipedia)

It's not a game, but the
JavaGaming.org
[1] forum hosts a lot of discussion and development of indie Java games and discussions on the technologies (libraries, etc.) that they use (e.g. LWJGL, JOGL). You can find indie Java games there!

Hm, I am not sure if it is okay to post a game to which I have contributed. But it was Sourceforge
project of the month
[1] in March.

Stendhal
[2] is a multiplayer online adventures game (MORPG) developed using the Arianne game system. It is completely open source (client, server, graphics, everything). While it is still heavily developed, it is fully playable.

Stendhal features a rich and expanding world in which you can explore towns, buildings, plains, caves and dungeons. There are many NPCs with tasks and quests for valuable experience and cold hard cash. With the money new items can be bought and armour and weapons can be improved. And for the blood thirsty ones of you; satisfy your killing desires by roaming the world in search of evil monsters!